Patti LuPone

Patti Ann LuPone, born April 21, 1949, in Northport, New York, is an American actress and singer whose Broadway career spans from 1973 to 2024. The daughter of Angela Louise LuPone, a library administrator at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, and Orlando Joseph LuPone, an English teacher and school administrator at Walt Whitman High School in Huntington, New York, she was raised in a family with deep ties to performance. Her older brother, Robert LuPone, was a Tony-nominated actor, dancer, and director who originated the role of Zach in A Chorus Line. Her great-great aunt was the 19th-century Spanish-born Italian opera singer Adelina Patti. LuPone holds dual citizenship in Italy and the United States, with her father's family originating from Abruzzo and her mother's from Sicily. Lucille Ball, a grade school friend of her mother's, was a family friend.

LuPone trained at the Juilliard School's Drama Division, graduating in 1972 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree as part of the program's first graduating class, alongside Kevin Kline and David Ogden Stiers. That same year, she became one of the founding members of The Acting Company, a nationally touring repertory theater company formed by John Houseman, with whom she remained through 1976. Her work with the company included productions of The Beggar's Opera, Next Time I'll Sing to You, and Scapin, among many others. She made her Broadway debut in 1973 in The Three Sisters, playing Irina.

Her Broadway credits from the early period include Next Time I'll Sing to You, Amphitryon / Les Fourberies de Scapin, The Beggar's Opera, and The Robber Bridegroom, the last of which earned her her first Tony Award nomination, for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, in 1975. In 1978, she appeared in the Broadway musical adaptation of Studs Terkel's Working. Since 1977, LuPone has maintained a frequent collaboration with playwright David Mamet, appearing in productions of The Woods, All Men Are Whores, The Blue Hour, The Water Engine, Edmond, The Old Neighborhood, and The Anarchist.

LuPone's breakthrough came with the original Broadway production of Evita in 1979, the musical based on the life of Eva Perón, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and directed by Harold Prince. She won the role over more than 200 auditionees and received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1980. The song "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina," which she performed in the show, became one of her signature pieces. In 1980, her cabaret act, "Patti LuPone at Les Mouches," ran for 27 consecutive Saturday midnight performances concurrent with her nightly appearances in Evita. A restored recording of that act was released as an album by Ghostlight Records in 2008.

On the West End, LuPone earned two Laurence Olivier Awards. The first, for Best Actress in a Musical, recognized her performances as Fantine in the original London cast of Les Misérables and as Moll in The Cradle Will Rock in 1985. The second Olivier, for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical, came for her work in Company in 2019. She also received an Olivier nomination for her portrayal of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard in 1993.

Her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical came in 2008 for playing Rose in Gypsy. Additional Tony nominations recognized her performances in Anything Goes (1988), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2006), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010), and War Paint (2017). In 2022, she received the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for playing Joanne in the Stephen Sondheim revival of Company, bringing her total to three Tony Awards. LuPone was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2006.

Her recording work includes two Grammy Awards for the 2007 Los Angeles Opera production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. LuPone possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range and is recognized for her strong belt singing voice. In a 2008 interview, she described herself as "an actor who sings."

On television, LuPone starred in the drama series Life Goes On from 1989 to 1993 and received Emmy Award nominations for The Song Spinner (1995) and Frasier (1998). She appeared in three Ryan Murphy series — American Horror Story (2013–2014, 2022), Pose (2019), and Hollywood (2020) — and received Critics Choice Award nominations for Penny Dreadful (2014–2016) and Agatha All Along (2024). Her role in Agatha All Along also earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Additional television credits include Oz (2003), Will & Grace (2005), Ugly Betty (2007), 30 Rock (2009–2012), Glee (2011), Girls (2014), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2017), Steven Universe (2016–2019), And Just Like That... (2025), Palm Royale (2025), and The Artist (2025).

Her film work includes 1941 (1979), Witness (1985), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Summer of Sam (1999), State and Main (2000), Heist (2001), and Beau Is Afraid (2023).